Dividends to Craigslist execs called ‘extortion,’ deal negotiator testifies
Lawman saddles up publicity horse yet again
South Carolina governor Mark Sanford should have hired his attorney general Henry McMaster as PR manager after Sanford’s return from Argentina; for the attorney general truly knows how to turn stupidity into public ploys for productive publicity. McMaster’s latest bid for political office is the July 21, 2009 filing of “Defendants Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss.” The crux of the South Carolina claim is that there is plenty of precedent indicating a federal court may not initiate action while a state court case is ongoing.
The filing in the Charleston division of the South Carolina district of the U.S. Dstrict Court is ludicrous, most notably warning that were the Craigslist May 20, 2009 district court request for temporary restraint and preliminary injuction against McMaster to be granted, a “Wild West” [Sultry South?] would ensue. McMaster accused Craigslist of “First Amendment blackmail,” stating in the filing that “it appears Plaintiff’s management has knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and unlawful activity after warnings from law enforcement officials and after an agreement with forty state attorneys general.”
Actually, Craigslist has initiated several changes in its processing of adult services ads, including the category’s name change. See AIM Group’s special report for details. As a reminder of what has occurred up to now, here’s the timeline:
November 2008 – Craiglist enters agreement with 43 U.S. attorneys general and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to initiate Craiglist changes “to prevent illegal activity and improve safety” throughout the classified site.
March 5, 2009 – Cook County Illinois Sheriff Thomas Dart sues Craigslist for law enforcement costs and demands permanent injunction to close erotic services category on the site.
May 5, 2009 - SC Attorney General McMaster vows to launch a criminal investigation against Craigslist and its management, if Craigslist does not block all prostitution ads in its South Carolina pages and prevent any posts containing pornographic images.
May 12, 2009 – Craigslist shuts down erotic services category, and starts manual approval of each ad in the new Craigslist adult services category.
May 15, 2009 – Deadline is given to Craigslist by McMaster to comply, although it appears that Craigslist has already complied.
May 20, 2009 – Craigslist files temporary restraining order against McMaster. McMaster declares “victory”, belatedly acknowledging approval of Craigslist changes.
May 21, 2009 – North Carolina attorney general refuses to join the ranks of other attorneys general in the Craigslist suit, saying he’d rather spend his limited resources on fighting child molestation.
May 22, 2009 – U.S. District Judge Weston Houck orders Attorney General Henry McMaster “to refrain from initiating or pursuing any prosecution against Craigslist or its officers in relation to content posted on the site, until the merits of the McMaster lawsuit have been studied.”
So, McMaster seems to have violated a court demand that he not pursue action against Craigslist until his prior action against Craiglist has been resolved. And, the violating action that he has pursued is the demand for the federal government to not pursue any action until the state action has been resolved.
In these latest court papers, McMaster and his South Carolina Circuit Solicitor cronies further claim that “plaintiff is not entitled to CDA [Communications Decency Act] immunity from prosecution, for aiding and abetting prostitution in violation of South Carolina criminal law.”
Whatever sound arguments may have been hidden among the ridiculousness of this filing, its conclusion is absurb: “If Plaintiff prevails in this action, however, its websites will become the functional equivalent of the “Wild West” with the only law being the federal marshal, who enforces federal law when he happens to pass through town. Plaintiff will be free to develop categories such as “Murder for Hire,” “Preferred Prostitutes,” or “Drug Supermarket,” with absolute impunity, and states will be helpless to stop the resulting destruction and chaos within their borders.”
Gene Roddenberry would be proud of you, Henry McMaster. You’ve spun a fantastic yarn.
U.S. Congress demands response from Craigslist
The U.S. Congress has joined the bash Craigslist fray. A bipartisan letter signed by 26 U.S. Representatives says they are “disturbed by the number of violent crimes that have resulted from the ‘Erotic Services’ section of Craigslist.” That section has now been changed to “Adult” and is being moderated by Craigslist staff. But the letter said that wasn’t enough.
“It is imperative that creating an ‘Adult Services’ section to replace the aforementioned section must not simply shift the same solicitations to a newly entitled section, but instead must lead to fundamental change” the Representatives wrote.
The letter was sent to both Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster and asked for a written response and a formal meeting with the two Craigslist execs. “The evidence suggests that Craigslist’s ‘Erotic Services’ section abetted unlawful commercial sex trafficking,” the letter read. “It seems clear that anyone viewing the listings would recognize the purpose and illegality of them.”
The letter cites a Washington Post article saying that “at least 50 women have been raped or severely beaten in the last two years by men who responded to ads they posted on Craigslist.”
The letter asks specific questions of Craigslist’s policy for the new Adult section including:
– What process is being used to develop the new “Adult” standards?
– How many personnel will be hired to screen those listings?
– What means will Craigslist use to prevent unlawful behavior on the site?
– What level of cooperation will Craigslist have with local police?
– What training and what supervision will Craigslist staff receive?
– What accountability will there be for Craigslist if ads for illegal activity are posted?
The contact is Orly Isaacson working for U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York).
The full letter can be downloaded here, including all 26 names and signatures.
We asked Craigslist for comment but no word yet. We’ll keep you updated.
Does Craig Newmark want to go into politics?
Does Craigslist founder Craig Newmark want to go into politics? His comment during a keynote at the annual Computers Freedom & Privacy conference in Washington this week that he is considering whether to “dedicate a big chunk of my life” to those who are driving change in Washington certainly opened up the possibility.
“Things are changing in ways we’ve never seen before in human history,” Newmark said, adding that he wants to “find the people who are doing the real work” and act as their cheerleader and champion. “As a nerd and former engineer I’m used to being the person who does stuff. Now they tell me my great value is primarily being a person who talks about the good work other people do,” Newmark said.
Newmark also lauded the Obama administration’s recently launched open government initiative and Data.gov, a site intended to “democratize data” by offering raw feeds of government information.
Links to articles from the conference are here.
UPDATE: Craig tweeted me to tell me that he’s not interested in going into politics. Here’s what he wrote:
craignewmark@brianblum no, not interested in politics, very interested in governance.
Craig loses glasses, posts note on street corner
If you lost your glasses, would you post an ad on Craigslist or a flyer on a street corner? You might be inclined to go the old fashioned way, but techies would certainly opt for the online route.
Not, apparently, if you’re Craig Newmark. The uber-techie founder of Craigslist, posted a handwritten note on a San Francisco city street (the phone number handwritten on the ad matches Newmark’s business card posted at the bottom.
In case you were wondering, they’re brown Okio glasses with turquoise undertones and a heavy prescription.
Meg and Craig as ‘frienemies’
We used to talk about “Craig and Meg” — Newmark, founder of Craigslist, and Whitman, former CEO of EBay — as major players in the classified advertising field. Obviously, with EBay’s launch of Kijiji (and its subsequent growth), the lawsuits and countersuits between Craigslist and EBay, etc., they’re certainly “frienemies” now. But more enemies than friends.
What brings this up today? FastCompany.com takes a look at “frienemy” relationships, and cites the EBay / Craigslist relationship as an example. (EBay owns about one-quarter of Craigslist’s stock, or did before it was — so it claims — diluted.)
The funnest part of the post? FastCompany suggests that Kijiji might not have been the best name, but “Megslist or Whitman’s Sampler must have seemed over the top.” Had us ROFL!
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